Review Summary: Save rock 'n roll?
They’re back. Everyone’s favorite butt rock juggernaut Breaking Benjamin returns reformed as a quintet after a six-year gap between original major releases. But there’s no need to worry – or for some, perhaps, hope – in regard to a possible alteration in style.
Dark Before Dawn, if anything, once again reiterates that frontman Benjamin Burnley and company are impervious to change.
After all, there can be little doubt that
Burnley is the Breaking Benjamin, and not only in name, but legally, artistically and nearly in every metaphysical sense. I mean, go ask his former cohorts drummer Jeremy Hummel, lead guitarist Aaron Fink and bassist Mark Klepaski, whose disputes with Burnley had to be resolved in court. In the case of the latter two, who had been around since the band’s inception, they were cast out via divine fiat, smote from the incorrigible one’s fingertips -- their dismissal from Breaking Benjamin delivered by text message. Not much later, Burnley and Hummel’s replacement Chad Szeliga also divorced, with Szeliga citing “creative differences” as the reason for his departure. So, it’s increasingly evident that Burnley
is the group; new members, Aaron Bruch, Keith Wallen, Jasen Rauch and Shawn Foist, you’re just playing in it, at least until he gets into another
dismembering sort of mood.
And that’s
ok, perhaps
even more so.
As disconcerting is Burnley’s well-documented egoistic and totalitarian perfectionism, it’s also one of the main sources for Breaking Benjamin’s past and now present success. Early in the group’s discography, it was clear Burnley got his comrades to execute his vision and master their alt-metal-fueled post-grunge craft, enabling them to churn out angstily melodic catharsis in track after track. He has a winning formula and just had to replicate it with the fresh recruits. It is a testament of this ability that the outfit could be torn asunder, reassembled half a decade later when hard rock and guitar-and-drums-driven music had fallen out of mainstream popularity and now still headline and sell out venues.
Therefore, in one way,
Dark Before Dawn is the perfect comeback album for this resurgence. There are elements of the band’s previous endeavors throughout (Yes, Breaking Benjamin fans
can tell the qualitative difference between LPs). “Failure” has the familiar dense riffing leading to Tool-inspired heavy bass rhythms embedded in wind-up verses that blossom into a massive chorus conceived for one purpose: to melt the roof off stadiums. It’s the single the lack luster “I Will Not Bow” from 2009’s
Dear Agony should be. Additionally, the opening lick on “Angels Fall” is a shameless rehash of the guitar work from
We Are Not Alone’s “Break My Fall” but overall is a polished reincarnation of the briskly-paced alt-rock embodied on hits like “Sooner or Later” and the lesser known likes of “Follow” or “Forget It” and
Saturate’s “Medicate” and “Next to Nothing.” The whole affair also is bookended by
Phobia-like instrumental tracks. These are a few examples that illustrate there is much here to reassure Breaking Benjamin loyalists.
For detractors, however, there’s indeed plenty to malign. There’s no point to further tip-toe around it:
Dark Before Dawn is unsurprisingly formulaic and repetitive, virtually nothing that the guys haven’t already done better. The mid-section consists of a bunch of mid-tempo offerings that blend into one drop-D-tuned fever dream, with “Hollow” only being worthwhile. “Close to Heaven” is a poor version of “Dance With the Devil,” and “Bury Me Alive” is an equally forgettable transplant from the back half of
Saturate. Nu-metal-inspired “Breaking the Silence,” is like summer blockbuster
Jurassic World: Not intolerable, but like the movie franchise itself and the content of its sci-fi parable suggests, it’s best to let dead dinosaurs lie. Closer “Defeated” is the worst offender, as it is misplaced filler that mars the gravitas of the preceding “Ashes of Eden” and ends
Dark Before Dawn on a decidedly bitter note.
However, again, once you’re ready to dismiss Breaking Benjamin completely for lazily complacent songwriting, they’ll blindside you with something like the aforementioned “Ashes of Eden.” With its disarming harmonies between Burnley’s subdued inflections and acoustic underpinnings, it brings to mind Cartel’s “The Minstrel’s Prayer” or Anberlin’s “The Unwinding Cable Car." Its existence epitomizes how frustrating the group can be because it’s clear they can push their creative boundaries to excellent effect more than they do.
Likewise,
Dark Before Dawn encapsulates Breaking Benjamin’s polarizing career. Undeniably derivative yet addictive, it’s slightly stronger than the uniform mediocrity of
Dear Agony thanks to a handful of highlights but remains far from the band’s best work – that’s
Phobia. Inversely, though, despite it and its architects many plain failings, I can’t help but think the return of Burnley’s brand of hard rock
is a good thing.
With the prevailing feeling that the genre is moribund, Breaking Benjamin’s accessibility is something to be viewed optimistically. There is an indisputable appetite for their moody but catchy post-grunge punctuated by Burnley’s unique growl. By my reckoning, “Failure” peaked at 11 on iTunes’ top tracks within a few days of its release, while hard rock songs nowadays rarely break within 200. Moreover,
Dark Before Dawn debuted No. 1 on Billboard’s Top 200, inducing even
Rolling Stone to notice. My 52-year-old dad, who last listened to music on the radio for Enya, likes them enough to see them live. Hell, “Angels Fall” seriously has enough crossover appeal perhaps to barge its way onto hit music’s airwaves (A welcome diversion to interrupt the likes of Fifth Harmony’s inane claims about being “worth it”). In words taken directly from Burnley’s mouth, “Rock is not f***ing dead!”
While admittedly not as sophisticated as the likes of Tool, Burnley and his colleague are sufficient enough to help uphold a financial pulse until the next Tool. Possibly a more apt way to capture the sentiment, is modern rock better off with or without Breaking Benjamin? Prior to their absence that interestingly coincided with the fast deterioration of the genre, the answer was unequivocally in the affirmative. Maybe it’s because it’s the first new material in some time, but
Dark Before Dawn does just enough to keep that conclusion true.
Recommended Tracks:
"Failure"
"Angels Fall"
"Hollow"
"Ashes of Eden"
